Acting as an Agent & Exporting

[Adam Zakkariya]

Hi
I am quite new to the import exporting business any advice would be much appreciated.

I am looking to export some cargo from Russia to Malaysia. The buyer in Malaysia has paid a deposit, now is asking for a Bill of Lading. I am a bit hesitant to provide the bill of lading until a full payment is made, are they able to release the goods with this BL? or will the shipper provide a final BL which can only release the goods. If they cant release the goods with the initial BL then I am happy to give the current BL and the final one when the container reaches the port and the payment is cleared. But I am not too sure how many BL's I am supposed to get and the shipper is a Russian company hence there is a slight language barrier.

Also going forward the buyer has asked for a letter of credit. I am curious to how this could be done as the transaction is not directly with the supplier and the buyer as I am the agent and the payment has to go via my company. Would I need two letters of credit, one with the buyer and the other with the supplier?

Please help

thanks

Adam

 

[BLintl.]

Hello Adam,

Never send original BL to the buyer until you are paid in full. "Final and initial BL", what do you mean by this? You can have only one original BL (it can be in duplicate or triplicate as well but still marked original).

Will the seller in Russia send you the original BL without having the payment from you?

To help you better, more information is needed from you.

Regarding your future options with the L/C, the buyer can issue a transferrable L/C in your favour and your bank transfers it to the Russian seller deducting your commission.

Another option for you is to have a back-to-back L/C issued by your bank based on the L/C you receive from your buyer.

You mentioned language barriers with the Russian seller. Can you be sure that the Russian supplier will issue all export documents in strict accordance with the L/C terms?

You are welcome to check our website where you will find a lot of articles about working with L/Cs, about the pitfalls of using letters of credit and fraud in international trade in general.

 

[Adam Zakkariya]

Hi
Thank you for your reply.
By initial BL, I thought that the supplier would give a copy of this to me to prove that they have loaded the container, I assume that this would be a draft BL to act as a proof? I would then show this draft to the Customer so that they are also satisfied.

I was on the assumption that the supplier would then give me the actual BL when the goods reach the port, I am hoping to be able to track container numbers to also verify that the goods are at the port. At which point I will receive the final payment from the customer and telex them the BL so that they can release the containers.

Also is it possible for me to in some way hide the supplier details on the BL and the origin. As I would not want the customer to know this information.

thanks again for your help

Adam

 

[BLintl.]

Hello Adam,

It is difficult to comment on your situation without knowing the delivery terms, contract's conditions etc. Do you have any experience in doing business with your supplier and the buyer?

Just assume that you have received partial prepayment from the buyer, sent your part to the Russian supplier and now the shipment should be done. In this situation it often works like this (repeat again, all depends on the contract terms, your agreement with the supplier and the buyer etc etc).

1. The buyer sends you prepayment, you transfer the money to the supplier.
2. The supplier loads the goods and issues export documents according to the contract. The buyer may issue the drafts first and send them to you to check. If all is acceptable they issue the originals.
3. You send the copies to your buyer and demands the payment before the the goods reach the port of disharge.
4. Once you are paid you pay the supplier. The supplier sends you the original documents by courier.
5. You change the invoice for your own and forward the documents to the buyer by courier.
6. The buyer receives the documents before the goods arrive and arranges customs clearance.

This is the best scenario. Must say that there can be many risks in any transaction and it is impossible to discuss all of them here.

In your current situation it will be difficult to hide the names of the consignee and the consignor. Remember that the names of the buyer and the seller will be on other export documents.

 

[Adam Zakkariya]

Thank you so much for your help it has shed a bit more light on the situation.

I suppose there is no way then to hide the sellers information on the BL? As if the customer knew this then they could potentially cut me out of the equation the next time.

 

[BLintl.]

It may be possible when working with a back-to-back L/C but I assume not at your current situation.

Often it is almost impossible for a middleman to hide the details of the supplier and the seller from each other. They will easily locate each other. You as a middleman should think what value you can add to the transaction. If you really help both parties you can have chances to stay in business at least for some time.

You are very welcome to visit our website and receive more information about fraud in international business. You can also subscribe for our anti-fraud programme.

 

[JPGODINEZ]

Hi I Am John, I'm A Car Lover, And I'm Begining To Export Old Classic Cars From Uk To Mexico.
I Need Some Agent, Broker Or Company To Help Me, To Find, Buy, Pay, And Send Me The Cars I Will Buy, To Mexico.
I Already Have A Firm Here In Mexico To Import The Cars.
Just Need Someone Very Professional And Honest To Be My Face And Physical Contact In Uk, For The Purchase Of The Cars
It`s Anybody Interested?
I`m Planning To Buy 3 To 5 Cars, At The Begining

 

[logoonlinepros]

Hello,
Well, you are going to do some incredible job i think. I don't have any idea about these countries, but I have been doing same job from China to Dubai. If you need to know about that I will tell you.

 

[livenz]

Hi
I am quite new to the import exporting business any advice would be much appreciated.

I am looking to export some cargo from Russia to Malaysia. The buyer in Malaysia has paid a deposit, now is asking for a Bill of Lading. I am a bit hesitant to provide the bill of lading until a full payment is made, are they able to release the goods with this BL? or will the shipper provide a final BL which can only release the goods. If they cant release the goods with the initial BL then I am happy to give the current BL and the final one when the container reaches the port and the payment is cleared. But I am not too sure how many BL's I am supposed to get and the shipper is a Russian company hence there is a slight language barrier.

Also going forward the buyer has asked for a letter of credit. I am curious to how this could be done as the transaction is not directly with the supplier and the buyer as I am the agent and the payment has to go via my company. Would I need two letters of credit, one with the buyer and the other with the supplier?

Please help

thanks

Adam

Hi Adam

You can just give them a copy of B/L and inform the shipment company in advance so the buyer cant use this to release the goods, that is what my frieght forwarder did.

 

[peterbirganza]

I would also like to suggest you that provide them B/L. It will not be risky for this consignment as well as for your business.
For more details about consultancy of exporting you can visit:

Wholesale consultancy

UK Wholesale Business Export

 

[BLintl.]

It is a very bad idea to provide the original B/L without having the full payment. A copy as a proof of shipment - yes, but never the original.